June 5, 1815 – Monroe County was established by proclamation
of Mississippi Territorial Governor David Holmes. At the time, Monroe County
embraced almost two-thirds of the State of Alabama. It extended from the
Florida line to the mountains of Blount and from the Tombigbee River to the
Chattahoochee River. (Some sources say this occurred on June 29, 1815.)

June 5, 1851 – Harriet Beecher Stowe's anti-slavery serial,
“Uncle Tom's Cabin,” or “Life Among the Lowly,” started a 10-month run in The
National Era abolitionist newspaper. Stowe received $300 for the original work.

June 5, 1862 - Union forces arrived at Fort Pillow, which the
Confederates had evacuated the previous day. Fort Pillow was a key stronghold
on the Mississippi River.

June 5, 1862
– As the Treaty of Saigon was signed, ceding parts of southern Vietnam to
France, the guerrilla leader Trương Định decided to defy Emperor Tự Đức of
Vietnam and fight on against the Europeans.

June 5, 1862
- Abraham Lincoln was authorized by Congress to establish diplomatic
relationships with the "Negro nations" of Haiti and Liberia

June 5, 1862 – During the Civil
War, skirmishes were fought at Round Grove, Oklahoma and at Sedalina, Missouri.
An “action” also occurred at Tranter's Creek, North Carolina.

June 5, 1863 – The CSS "Alabama" captured the "Tailsman"
in the mid-Atlantic Ocean.

June 5, 1863 – Louise Cooper was born into slavery at
Claiborne, Ala. The subject of several George Singleton articles and columns,
she would live until June 3, 1977, which was just two days shy of her 114th
birthday. She is buried in the Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Cemetery at
Claiborne.

June 5, 1863 – During the Civil
War, skirmishes were fought at Franklin's Crossing, Virginia and at Smithville,
Tennessee.

June 5, 1863 – During the Civil
War, the siege of Vicksburg, Miss. entered Day 18.

June 5, 1864 – During the Civil War, at the Battle of
Piedmont, Union forces under General David Hunter defeated a Confederate army
under Gen. William “Grumble” Jones at Piedmont, Virginia. Six hundred soldiers
were killed or wounded, and another 1,000 were captured; the Yankees lost 800.
The victory cleared the way for Union occupation of the upper Shenandoah
Valley.

June 5, 1864 – During the Civil
War, a skirmish was fought at Worthington's Landing, Mississippi.

June 5, 1866 – Scottish explorer and surveyor John McDouall
Stuart passed away at the age of 50 in London, England.

June 5, 1884 - U.S. Civil War General William T. Sherman
refused the Republican presidential nomination, saying, "I will not accept
if nominated and will not serve if elected."

June 5, 1898 – Spanish poet and playwright Federico Garcia
Lorca was born in Fuente Vaqueros, in the province of Granada.

June 5, 1911 - Author and Poet Laureate Helen Blackshear was
born in Tuscaloosa, Ala.

June 5, 1913 – The Monroe Journal reported that the
following merchants had agreed to close their stores at 6 p.m., except on
Saturdays, during the months of June, July and August: Hixon Bros., Fancy
Grocery, T.L. Roberts, Sowell Mercantile Co., Lazenby Mercantile Co., J.D.
Rawls.

June 5, 1914 – Col. Hugh M. King died at the age of 81, and
a funeral conducted by the local Masonic lodge was held at the family home on
Evergreen, Alabama’s Main Street the next day. He was a former principal of the
Evergreen Academy and a lawyer.

June 5, 1915 – The baseball teams from Bowles and Skinnerton
were scheduled to play a rematch on this day, a week after Bowles beat
Skinnerton, 17-12.

June 5, 1915 – The Butler County Sheriff’s Department
confiscated 80 cases of whiskey at a farm house belonging to W.F. Walker near
Greenville, Ala. on this Saturday morning. The liquor was said to have come
from a Montgomery liquor dealer and was conveyed in two large touring cars.

June 5, 1916 – Conecuh County court was in session on this
Monday and “quite a large docket was disposed of,” according to The Conecuh
Record. The commissioners court was also in session this week.

June 5, 1916 - In the icy waters of the North Sea, the British cruiser Hampshire struck a German mine and
sank off the Orkney Islands; among the passengers and crew drowned was Lord Horatio
Herbert Kitchener, the British secretary of state for war.

June 5, 1917 – During World War I, conscription began in the
United States as "Army registration day” when American men began
registering for the draft.

June 5, 1920 – Pro Football Hall of Fame fullback and
linebacker Marion Motley was born in Leesburg, Ga. He went on to play for the
University of Nevada, the Cleveland Browns and the Pittsburgh Steelers. He was
inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1968.

June 5, 1922 – H.P. Lovecraft completed “What the Moon
Brings,” which was originally published in the May 1923 issue of The National
Amateur.

June 5, 1924 – Pro Football Hall of Fame defensive tackle
Art Donovan was born in Bronx, N.Y. He went on to play for Notre Dame, Boston
College, the Baltimore Colts, the New York Yanks and the Dallas Texans. He was
inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1968.

June 5, 1926 – Poet and novelist David Wagoner was born in
Massillon, Ohio.

June 5, 1933 – The U.S. Congress abrogated the United
States' use of the gold standard by enacting a joint resolution (48 Stat. 112)
nullifying the right of creditors to demand payment in gold.

June 5, 1934 – Journalist Bill Moyers was born in Hugo,
Okla.

June 5, 1934 - Milledge Bonam Garvin, age 74, well known
farmer and substantial citizen of Conecuh County, died at his home in the
Horton community on this Tuesday afternoon at 3 p.m. Garvin had been in failing
health for a period of years but had only been confined to his bed for about
two weeks. Deceased was born in South Carolina but moved to Conecuh County when
he was a boy and had lived in the community where he died, continuously since.

June 5, 1939 – Novelist Margaret Drabble was born in
Sheffield, England.

June 5, 1941 – The Evergreen Courant reported that Beth
Deming, a junior at the University of Alabama, had become “one of the first
girls in the South” to complete the Civil Aviation Authority’s aviation course,
which included a cross-country solo flight.

June 5, 1941 – The Evergreen Courant reported that State
Highway Director Chris J. Sherlock had announced that the contract had been
awarded for the construction of a new bridge on U.S. Highway 31, over Escambia
Creek, in Flomaton, Ala. The contract was awarded to low bidder, Goodwin &
Murphee of Troy, whose bid was $118,269.58.

June 5, 1944 – Evergreen, Ala. Mayor Dr. John Ramsey Brooks
passed away at the age of 67. He was a native of Monroe County, a 1909 graduate
of Atlanta’s Southern Dental College, a former Evergreen city councilman,
Evergreen mayor for eight years, a Methodist and a Shriner. Born on Oct. 2,
1976, he was buried in Magnolia Cemetery in Evergreen. Brooks Memorial Stadium
in Evergreen was named in his honor.

June 5, 1947 – The Evergreen Greenies beat McCullough, 11-0,
behind the shutout pitching of Wendell Hart. Wade Nobles, who finished the game
with a .455 overall batting average, led Evergreen with three hits, and Haskew
Page hit a three-run home run in the fifth inning.

June 5, 1949 – Welsh author Ken Follett was born in Cardiff,
Wales, United Kingdom.

June 5, 1956 - Elvis Presley introduced his new single
“Hound Dog” on "The Milton Berle Show," stirring up controversy with
his swiveling hip motions.

June 5, 1956 - A television version of Alabama author Lonnie
Coleman's book “Nick
and Letty”isbroadcast as part of the “Playwrights '56”
series.

June 5, 1956 - During a mass meeting at Birmingham,
Alabama's Sardis Baptist Church, Fred Shuttlesworth and other local black
ministers established the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights (ACMHR).
Founded in response to the State of Alabama's recent ban on the NAACP which
lasted eight years, ACMHR was central to the civil rights movement in
Birmingham.

June 5, 1956 – The Evergreen, Ala. Recreation Center opened
for the summer, and Ray Owens was director of the facility. The center was open
daily from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.

June 5, 1956 – The first two cotton blooms of the 1956
cotton season arrived at The Evergreen Courant almost simultaneously. One of
the blooms belonged to Grady Ralls, who lived about 14 miles from Evergreen,
Ala. on Rt. D. The other bloom belonged to Everette Gross, who lived two to
three miles east of Castleberry, Ala. and said the bloom opened on June 1.

June 5, 1958 – The Monroe Journal reported that an ordinance
relating to the prohibiting of livestock pens in the city limits of
Monroeville, Ala was adopted recently by the Town Council. Passing of the
ordinance was listed “to protect the health and general welfare of the people
of Monroeville.” The new statute forbid the presence of a livestock pen within
200 yards of any dwelling house or business establishment within the corporate
limits.

June 5, 1965 – In connection with the “Bermuda Triangle,” a
C-119 “Flying Boxcar” on a routine mission and carrying a crew of 10 vanished
while on a flight from Homestead Air Force Base to Grand Turk Island, in the
southeast Bahamas.

June 5, 1968 – Robert F. Kennedy, a U.S. presidential
candidate, was shot at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, by Sirhan Sirhan, a
Palestinian. Kennedy died the next day.

June 5, 1969 - The Doors documentary "Feast of
Friends" premiered.

June 5, 1971 – The first Monroe County Horse Show was
scheduled to be held on this Saturday at 1:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. at Vanity Fair
Park in Monroeville, Ala. The Hon. Larry Edwards of Dawson, Ga. was the Walking
Horse Judge, the Hon. T.H. McCollum of Albany, Ga. was Gaited Horse Judge,
Hunter McDuffie of Camden was the Master of Ceremonies and Dr. Larry Knight of
Monroeville was Ringmaster. Show Chairman was Dr. S.A. Weeks of Frisco City.

June 5, 1972 - Since Alabama Gov. George C. Wallace, who’d
been shot five times in May 1972, was out of Alabama for more than 20 days
while he was recovering in Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring, Maryland, the
state constitution required Lieutenant Governor Jere Beasley to serve as acting
governor from June 5 until Wallace's return to Alabama on July 7.

June 5, 1972 - Testifying before a
joint Congressional Appropriations Committee, Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird
said the increase in U.S. military activity in Vietnam could add up to $5
billion to the 1973 fiscal budget, doubling the annual cost of the war. This
increased American activity was in response to the North Vietnamese Nguyen Hue
Offensive, also called the Easter Offensive, which had been launched on March
31.

June 5, 1976
– NFL wide receiver Torry Holt was born in Gibsonville, N.C. He went on to play
for North Carolina State, the St. Louis Rams and the Jacksonville Jaguars.

June 5, 1986 – Adams Grove Presbyterian Church, located near
Sardis in Dallas County, Ala., was added to the National Register of Historic
Places. (Reportedly haunted location.)

June 5, 1989 – Bo Jackson ran down a long line-drive deep to
left field on a hit-and-run play against the Seattle Mariners. With speedy
Harold Reynolds running from first base on the play, Scott Bradley's hit would
have been deep enough to score him against most outfielders. But Jackson, from
the warning track, turned flat footed and fired a strike to catcher Bob Boone,
who tagged the sliding Reynolds out. Jackson's throw reached Boone on the fly.
Interviewed for the "Bo Jackson" episode of ESPN Classic's
SportsCentury, Reynolds admitted that he thought there was no way anyone would
throw him out on such a deep drive into the gap in left-center, and was shocked
to see his teammate telling him to slide as he rounded third base.

June 5, 1989 - The Toronto Blue Jays lost their debut game
in the Skydome against the Milwaukee Brewers.

June 5, 1993 – The Hank Williams Boyhood Home & Museum
opened in Georgiana, Ala.

June 5, 1999 – On this Saturday night in the Wiley Salter
Auditorium at Reid State Technical College, Cassie Crane was crowned Conecuh
County’s Junior Miss for the 2000. Crane was the daughter of David and Mildred
Crane. Other participants in the program included LaJuana Johnson, first
runner-up; Kristie Faulkner, second runner-up; Kristen Godwin; and Jamie Neese.

June 5, 2004 – Ronald Reagan, the 40th President of the
United States, passed away from pneumonia at the age of 93 in Bel Air, Los
Angeles, Calif.

June 5, 2005 - Aruban police detained Nick John and Abraham
Jones, former security guards from the nearby Allegro Hotel,which
was then closed for renovation,on suspicion of murder and
kidnapping in connection with the disappearance of 18-year-old Natalee Holloway
of Mountain Brook, Ala. John and Jones were released on June 13 without being
charged.

June 5, 2012 – American author Ray Bradbury passed away at
the age of 91 in Los Angeles, Calif.